Perdue AgriBusiness Assures Producers Barley Contracts Intact

Joanna Schroeder

Last month Osage Bio Energy announced that is would be selling its plant without going into production. Had the plant gone online, it would have been the country’s largest biorefinery using barley as its main feedstock. In light of this announcement, Perdue AgriBusiness is assuring its customers that it will honor all contracts for the 2011 barley crop. Perdue AgriBusiness …

biofuels, Ethanol, feedstocks

SunPower Biodiesel Goes Into Production

Joanna Schroeder

SunPower Biodiesel is official producing biodiesel at its plant located in Cumberland Wisconsin. The plant is using locally grown canola oil to produce the biodiesel. To celebrate, SunPower held a grand opening event that included a biodiesel workshop, plant tours and a ribbon cutting ceremony. “Sun Power is very unique in our region,” said Laura Richard, Wisconsin Clean Cities, Southeast …

Biodiesel, biofuels

Propel Offers Sacramento, CA Drivers B20

Joanna Schroeder

Biodiesel is gaining traction in California. This week Propel Fuels began selling B20 biodiesel at two of its Sacramento area fuel stations. Propel says its B20 is a blend of 20 percent American made biodiesel and 80 percent petro-diesel, and provides motorists increased performance, longer engine life and reduced emissions. Next, Propel added B20 to its Roseville stations as well …

Biodiesel, biofuels, E85

Group Calls Open Fuel Standard Bad for Biofuels

Cindy Zimmerman

A new analysis done by Advanced Biofuels USA finds that the Open Fuel Standard (OFS) is “bad for advanced biofuels and will add to environmental damage if passed and implemented.” The Open Fuel Standard Act was introduced recently in the House and a similar bill in the Senate. The bills mandate that specific percentages of vehicles be built to operate …

advanced biofuels, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government

Bi-Fuel Ethanol-Diesel Vehicle Debuts in Brazil

Joanna Schroeder

Typically flex fuel vehicles are a combination of ethanol and gasoline or diesel and biodiesel. But inroads have been made to create flex fuel vehicles that use a combination of ethanol and diesel fuels. Iveco, FPT Industrial and Bosch officially debuted the Iveco Trakker Bi-Fuel Ethanol-Diesel vehicle at Agrishow last week in Ribeirão Preto, the country’s largest agricultural show. The …

biofuels, Brazil, Ethanol, Flex Fuel Vehicles

House Spending Bill Cuts Renewable Energy Programs

Cindy Zimmerman

Two renewable energy programs designed to help make America more energy independent were slashed in the spending bill passed Tuesday night by the House Appropriations Committee. The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) which provides grants and loan guarantees to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to help purchase renewable energy systems, including ethanol blender pumps, was cut from the …

biofuels, biomass, blends, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government

New Oxfam Report: Growing a Better Future

Joanna Schroeder

A new report, “Growing a Better Future,” has the ethanol industry up in arms over its accusation that U.S. biofuel policy is leading to world hunger. The report kicked off a new worldwide GROW campaign spearheaded by the organization. The report covers the symptoms of today’s broken food system: growing hunger, flat-lining yields, a scramble for fertile land and water, …

biofuels, Ethanol, food and fuel, Growth Energy, International, Research, RFA

Ethanol Industry Supports Veterans

Joanna Schroeder

Memorial Day may be over but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think about our veterans for another year. This past holiday, Clean Fuels Development Coalition (CFDC) and the FlexFuel Vehicle Awareness Campaign partnered with the Volunteers of Underage Military Service (VUMS) with a procession of ethanol and hybrid electric vehicles in a Memorial Day parade in Washington, D.C. The purpose …

biofuels, Ethanol, Flex Fuel Vehicles

DFCast: The Biofuels Industry Gets Married

Joanna Schroeder

The biofuels industry got married when a first generation ethanol plant walked down the isle with a second generation algae plant in Shenandoah, Iowa. BioProcess Algae and Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE) tied the knot and celebrated their anniversary last month with the announcement that their first babies, a set of Grower Harvester bioreactors, went online. This marked the last …

algae, biofuels, Domestic Fuel Cast, Environment, Ethanol

Students In India Study Water Hyacinth for Ethanol

Joanna Schroeder

Students around the world are in search of new alternatives to fossil fuels. Several biotech students in Surat, Gujarat are studying the water hyacinth as a feedstock to produce ethanol. The students are looking for ways to reduce fuel costs – earlier this month the Central government announced that the price of fuel would increase five rupees across the country. …

biofuels, Ethanol, International